SNOPES busted - sold favors, slanted opinions

SO MUCH FOR SNOPES!!! (Here's yet another 'trusted source' that should have never been trusted in the first place. From their kitchen table, this wacky leftist couple spread disinformation far and wide in the name of truth.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Snopes.com owners Barbara and David Mikkelson were detained by police today after an unrelated investigation of a Snopes.com editor lead police onto a paper trail of corruption, bribery, and fraud at the very heart of the fact-checking organization.

Evidence obtained by police has revealed that Snopes.com, which markets itself as "the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation," has a history of accepting money and favors from left-leaning and pro-Islamic political groups and individuals for helping them to advance their cause by rigging public discourse with selective fact-finding and deliberate manipulation of public opinion.

Late Monday morning, Brian Williston, a Snopes.com editor, who also doubles as the accountant, found himself at a flea market on the outskirts of Los Angeles. As he was browsing the different tables and tents looking for antiques, an old mechanical piano began playing Dixie's Land, a song that was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and is now considered offensive by some due to its link to the iconography and ideology of the Old South.

The tune sparked an outrage in Williston, who began yelling and cursing those who "would like to bring back slavery and racial separation," and ordering the vendors to "turn off that racist music." When no one nearby claimed to know how to turn off the one-hundred-year-old machine, Williston became violent. He started grabbing various antique objects from the vendors' tables and throwing them at the antique piano in an attempt to silence the music.
A bystander, later identified as William Barksdale, working as a courier for the L.A. Messenger Service, attempted to calm Williston down, saying that "someone is just trying to see if that the piano still works" and "it's only a song, don't shoot the pianist," but that only prompted the infuriated editor to redirect his rage to the messenger. Williston, who is white, began to choke Barksdale, who is black, while screaming "Shut up! Shut up!" as the mechanical piano continued to play Dixie's Land in the background.

After some of the shoppers intervened and pried Williston's hands off the courier's throat, the Snopes.com editor fled the scene of the incident. LAPD quickly identified Williston by the personal check he left with one of the vendors, which contained his full name and address. While inside his home, Williston ignored commands to open the door, causing police to use forced entry in order to detain him.

The arresting officer caught Williston slipping some papers under a Persian rug, which prompted the police to remove the rug and examine the documents underneath it. One of them turned out to be a handwritten ledger, containing names of well-known individuals and organizations who have been paying Snopes.com to debunk stories that cast them in a bad light, while validating damaging half-truths and rumors about their political opponents.

Having established their website as a reputable resource for validating and debunking stories in American popular culture since 1995, the Mikkelson couple soon found themselves in a position to influence public discourse by punishing or rewarding certain cultural and political biases. Before long they were accepting money to promote some rumors and downplay or completely ignore some others, which over the years have brought them millions of dollars, according to the source.

Especially scandalous may be the website's possible collaboration with left-leaning national media organizations, which started with payments to Snopes.com to overlook or validate their inaccurate and biased reporting, and eventually evolved into a full-scale coordinated effort with left-leaning groups and public relation firms to construct a media narrative that gave legitimacy to certain opinions, political causes and public figures, while discrediting other opinions, causes, and public figures.

The list of groups and individuals paying to use the website's clout ranged from local politicians to transnational entities to foreign governments, including Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Palestinian Authority. None of the specifics or individual names are being revealed while the investigation is still ongoing, but a police source has indicated that "the shockwaves will rock the world of the media and the political establishment."

Several watchdog groups have already condemned Snopes.com as a corrupt organization with zero credibility and urged their readers to disregard any political debunking from this tainted source. But some media experts predict that, given the high-profile names involved, as well as the power and magnitude of the political opinion-generating machine of which Snopes.com was only a small wheel, the story may never be allowed to reach a full-blown scandal and will soon be discarded as an urban legend, joining a long line of other similar stories debunked by Snopes.com.
- See more at: Snopes.com CEO arrested on charges of fraud and corruption

The author seems surprised. I wrote off these loons a long time ago.. As for taking dough under the table...why would anyone be surprised? Be intresting to see of this gets any legs... I doubt it, they are too valuable in the media wars.

LOL! I love it! Now, all we have to do is prove the corruption of Wikipedia the same way. Unfortunately, that tangled web is far more intricate.

It's funny how these corrupt people are funded by Liberals and adopt the persona of "sane", "rational" and "truthful", while independent journalism is always demonized and branded "conspiracy theory", despite the overwhelming evidence. Yes, little tidbits like Snopes burning in flames makes my heart go pitter-patter with excitement and glee.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. "-- J. Krishnamurti“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” -- George Orwell
Consider supporting Survivalmonkey.com by becoming a Site Supporter.

SO MUCH FOR SNOPES!!! (Here's yet another 'trusted source' that should have never been trusted in the first place. From their kitchen table, this wacky leftist couple spread disinformation far and wide in the name of truth.

LOS ANGELES, CA - Snopes.com owners Barbara and David Mikkelson were detained by police today after an unrelated investigation of a Snopes.com editor lead police onto a paper trail of corruption, bribery, and fraud at the very heart of the fact-checking organization.

Evidence obtained by police has revealed that Snopes.com, which markets itself as "the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation," has a history of accepting money and favors from left-leaning and pro-Islamic political groups and individuals for helping them to advance their cause by rigging public discourse with selective fact-finding and deliberate manipulation of public opinion.

Late Monday morning, Brian Williston, a Snopes.com editor, who also doubles as the accountant, found himself at a flea market on the outskirts of Los Angeles. As he was browsing the different tables and tents looking for antiques, an old mechanical piano began playing Dixie's Land, a song that was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and is now considered offensive by some due to its link to the iconography and ideology of the Old South.

The tune sparked an outrage in Williston, who began yelling and cursing those who "would like to bring back slavery and racial separation," and ordering the vendors to "turn off that racist music." When no one nearby claimed to know how to turn off the one-hundred-year-old machine, Williston became violent. He started grabbing various antique objects from the vendors' tables and throwing them at the antique piano in an attempt to silence the music.

A bystander, later identified as William Barksdale, working as a courier for the L.A. Messenger Service, attempted to calm Williston down, saying that "someone is just trying to see if that the piano still works" and "it's only a song, don't shoot the pianist," but that only prompted the infuriated editor to redirect his rage to the messenger. Williston, who is white, began to choke Barksdale, who is black, while screaming "Shut up! Shut up!" as the mechanical piano continued to play Dixie's Land in the background.

After some of the shoppers intervened and pried Williston's hands off the courier's throat, the Snopes.com editor fled the scene of the incident. LAPD quickly identified Williston by the personal check he left with one of the vendors, which contained his full name and address. While inside his home, Williston ignored commands to open the door, causing police to use forced entry in order to detain him.

The arresting officer caught Williston slipping some papers under a Persian rug, which prompted the police to remove the rug and examine the documents underneath it. One of them turned out to be a handwritten ledger, containing names of well-known individuals and organizations who have been paying Snopes.com to debunk stories that cast them in a bad light, while validating damaging half-truths and rumors about their political opponents.

Having established their website as a reputable resource for validating and debunking stories in American popular culture since 1995, the Mikkelson couple soon found themselves in a position to influence public discourse by punishing or rewarding certain cultural and political biases. Before long they were accepting money to promote some rumors and downplay or completely ignore some others, which over the years have brought them millions of dollars, according to the source.

Especially scandalous may be the website's possible collaboration with left-leaning national media organizations, which started with payments to Snopes.com to overlook or validate their inaccurate and biased reporting, and eventually evolved into a full-scale coordinated effort with left-leaning groups and public relation firms to construct a media narrative that gave legitimacy to certain opinions, political causes and public figures, while discrediting other opinions, causes, and public figures.

The list of groups and individuals paying to use the website's clout ranged from local politicians to transnational entities to foreign governments, including Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Palestinian Authority. None of the specifics or individual names are being revealed while the investigation is still ongoing, but a police source has indicated that "the shockwaves will rock the world of the media and the political establishment."

Several watchdog groups have already condemned Snopes.com as a corrupt organization with zero credibility and urged their readers to disregard any political debunking from this tainted source. But some media experts predict that, given the high-profile names involved, as well as the power and magnitude of the political opinion-generating machine of which Snopes.com was only a small wheel, the story may never be allowed to reach a full-blown scandal and will soon be discarded as an urban legend, joining a long line of other similar stories debunked by Snopes.com.
- See more at: Snopes.com CEO arrested on charges of fraud and corruption

The moral of the story is that if an internet article comports very strongly with one's own prejudices and confirmation biases, it's worth doing a little fact checkin' first to save some embarrasment and a loss of personal credibility. Alternatively, if one's motives in spreading righteous falsehoods are mischievous in the first instance, then share the mischief shamelessly. just keep whistlin' Dixie while you'all doin' it.

Last edited: Aug 20, 2015

Rules are for the guidance of the wise, and the blind obedience of fools. - unsourced

To deny your oppressor's, or your own humanity is to descend into barbarism. - V. Chelloveck

Survival is a battle for the mind...mainly one's own. - V. Chelloveck

A beautiful idea founded on faulty reasoning is like a turd wrapped in gold foil, tinsel and glitter. Neither are wholesome if swollowed whole! - V. Chelloveck

What is a religion, but a cult with a larger following and a veneer of respectability. - V.C.

Well, it was wishful thinking. If Snopes really wasn't taken down, just give it time.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. "-- J. Krishnamurti“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” -- George Orwell
Consider supporting Survivalmonkey.com by becoming a Site Supporter.

Never had much to do with them or ever visited their web site. Just heard about them once in awhile. It's kind of interesting that even as the left is losing credibility it still has huge numbers of supporters. They're almost fanatical it seems and the more their ideology and their high profile people are exposed as fraudulent, the more tightly they cling.

It's unbelievable the sheer numbers who supported Hilary in the first place, and the sheer numbers who still do knowing full well that she's only interested in helping herself and no one else. As much as I hate to use the analogy, 1937 Germany comes to mind. In general, as humans we still don't learn a damn thing from history.

The moral of the story is that if an internet article comports very strongly with one's own prejudices and confirmation biases, it's worth doing a little fact checkin' first to save some embarrasment and a loss of personal credibility. Alternatively, if one's motives in spreading righteous falsehoods are mischievous in the first instance, then share the mischief shamelessly. just keep whistlin' Dixie while you'all doin' it.

Click to expand...

The biggest problem being that it is so difficult today to differentiate reality from satire...

I'm wondering if there is a politically conservative equivalent of Snopes providing a fact checking / urban myth busting web site?? It would be interesting to see how they deal with these kind of conspiracy theorist spam e-mails and so forth. I'd like to be able to bitch and bellyache about their conservative bias.

Rules are for the guidance of the wise, and the blind obedience of fools. - unsourced

To deny your oppressor's, or your own humanity is to descend into barbarism. - V. Chelloveck

Survival is a battle for the mind...mainly one's own. - V. Chelloveck

A beautiful idea founded on faulty reasoning is like a turd wrapped in gold foil, tinsel and glitter. Neither are wholesome if swollowed whole! - V. Chelloveck

What is a religion, but a cult with a larger following and a veneer of respectability. - V.C.

You know, even though this was a spoofed story, I'm sure some of this goes on. Snopes declares true or false on issues that have sometimes been equally debated for many years with no clear absolute. I always thought that they had been absorbed by the NSA/CIA propaganda dept.

Well, I got suckered into it. I am just so accustomed to folks doing their fact-checking, and to be frank, if Snopes got busted it would not be surprising to me. I did take a second on that website and was in a hurry, so I didn't cross reference. Clearly my mistake for believing so quickly. Still, I stand with those who find it strange how Snopes does their business.

Now, Wikipedia on the other hand...I have experience dealing with that syndicate. It's become the standard for online data, and there are a key number of moderators who utilize the very complex rule system in place to keep average folks from editing. Also, there are a number of government hacks (anonymous users) who, unless they are unemployed, spend all their time editing the edits of others and making it impossible to change anything. It's either the "official story", or you get pushed out.

It's clear to me that the sites which sit on the front lines and often receive acclaim from the corporate media or used as a general reference and de facto "proof" website, are not exactly liberty oriented.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. "-- J. Krishnamurti“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” -- George Orwell
Consider supporting Survivalmonkey.com by becoming a Site Supporter.

You gotta admit, it's hilarious to see so many people who can't tell the difference between obvious satire and reality complaining that someone else is the one who can't be trusted to discern the truth. ROTFL!